Alan is a seasoned and well-respected lawyer and an arbitrator and mediator of legal disputes. Primary areas of law and dispute resolution include business, corporate and commercial matters, including securities law, mergers and acquisitions, health care, employment and franchise law. As an attorney, he has served as local corporate and litigation counsel for numerous Michigan, national and international private and publicly held business entities. As an educator and author, Alan focuses primarily on the fields of arbitration and mediation.
Alan serves as an arbitrator and mediator for the American Arbitration Association (“AAA/ICDR”), the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution (“CPR”), the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”), the American Health Lawyers Association (“AHLA”) and many more national arbitration and mediation panels. He is AAA-certified as an arbitrator and mediator on its regular and large complex case panels involving Commercial Law, Employment Law, Health Law, Securities Law and Franchise Law. Alan is also certified to mediate in the Courts of the State of Michigan. A Case Evaluator and Discovery Master for the Oakland County Circuit Court, he participated in the creation of the Oakland County Circuit Court Early Case Evaluation Pilot Program, laying a foundation for the court annexed alternative dispute resolution program. He is a state approved Medical Surprise Billing Arbitrator, an adjudicator of federal NSA out-of-network medical claim disputes, and an Attorney Disciplinary Panelist for the Michigan Supreme Court.
Over the years, Alan has made educational presentations about arbitration and mediation topics to arbitrators and mediators, attorneys and law students, and others desiring to learn about alternative dispute resolution. He has lectured for law school classes, state and local bar association meetings and programs, providers of continuing legal education, business, labor and community groups, court sponsored programs and for the American Arbitration Association.
Over the course of his career, Alan has been awarded and has earned many honors and recognitions including being named a Best Lawyer In America each year from and after 2005 and a Best Lawyer’s, “Lawyer of the Year” in the field of Arbitration in 2019. He has been named a Michigan Super Lawyer each year from 2008 to the present, a Best Lawyer in Detroit, a Best ADR, Business and Contract Lawyer by Detroit Business Magazine (“dbusiness”), and a Top Business Lawyer by the New York Times, Crains Detroit Magazine, and the American Lawyer Publication, and is a “Leading Lawyer” in Michigan.
Alan is rated Preeminent (AV) by Martindale-Hubbel (peer reviewed) and is rated as a “Superb Attorney” with a 10/10 rating by AVVO. Alan has been included in “Who’s Who in American Law” and “Who’s Who in America”. He was awarded membership in the Phi Beta Kappa Honors Society in 1976 and is a member of the Detroit Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa (Gamma of Michigan).
- 2019 Lawyer of the Year – Arbitration, Best Lawyers in America;
- Phi Beta Kappa National Honors Society (1976);
- Best Lawyers in America in the Field of Alternative Dispute Resolution, Arbitration and Mediation (2005 through present);
- Best Lawyers in Detroit
- Michigan Super Lawyer in the field of Alternative Dispute Resolution (2008 through present);
- Best ADR, Business and Contract Law Attorneys in Detroit and surrounding areas, awarded by Detroit Business Magazine (“dbusiness”) (2006 through 2011, 2013 through 2017);
- Member of World Wide Registry – American Registry (October 2014);
- Top Michigan Attorney-_New York Times (2011 – Present);
- Top Attorney-The American Lawyer (2011 – Present);
- Superb Attorney (“10” Highest Possible Rating) AVVO (2012 – Present);
- Crain’s Business Detroit Magazine Top Lawyer a Top Business Attorney
- Martindale- Hubbell (peer reviewed) AV Preeminent rating every year since 1989;
- National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals (Fellow); Charter Member – State of Michigan Chapter – Executive Committee;
- International Academy of Mediators (Distinguished Fellow 2001 through present);
- Michigan Supreme Court Attorney Grievance Discipline Panelist (1995 through present);
- State Bar Representative Assembly (2001-2007)
- Fellows of the State Bar of Michigan – Life Member
- Michigan Leading Lawyers (2016–);
- AAA/ICDR Foundation – Charter Donor;
- ABA Foundation – Life Fellow;
- Elected as Fellow in College of Commercial Arbitrators (2015) and Director (2019–)
Alan is a member of the American Bar Association’s Litigation, ADR, Health and Employment Law Sections and Franchise Forum. He is a member of the State Bar of Michigan (numerous sections), and served as the Chairperson of the State Bar of Michigan Alternative Dispute Resolution Section in 2005-2006. A sustaining member of the Oakland County Bar Association (“OCBA”), he served as the Chairperson of the OCBA Case Evaluation Committee. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the International Academy of Mediators (“IAM”), a Fellow and Director of the College of Commercial Arbitrators (“CCA”) and a Fellow of the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals (“NADN”). He holds status as a Master of the American Inn’s of Court (OCBA), a Life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, a life member of the Fellows of the State Bar of Michigan, and a Charter Donor of the American Arbitration Association/ICDR Foundation.
Admissions (Excludes Pro Hac Vice Admissions)
- Admitted to the State Bar of Michigan, (1979)
- U.S. District Court: Eastern (1979) and Western (1981) Districts of Michigan
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit, (1982)
- U.S. Tax Court, (1997).
Alan received his undergraduate degree from Wayne State University, with a BA, with high distinction in 1976 and his juris doctorate degree from Wayne State University Law School, J.D., in 1979. Advanced education includes participation in ADR educational programs at the Strauss Institute for Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California and the Program on Negotiation (PON) at Harvard Law School in Boston, Massachusetts.
- B.A., with High Distinction, Wayne State University, 1976
- J.D., Wayne State University Law School, 1979
